If you have any queries about these, or anything about how the site works, start a thread.

Rules : With Explanation

Those rules are to the point, but there's reasoning behind them. How you interact with people here, and how to get the very most out of the site, relies on understanding these core principles:

Principle 1: We're here to build the smallpress games community in the UK

Post about games you've played and how they went (good, bad, indifferent?) If you want to introduce yourself, this is the best way. It'll give us a handle on your experiences with games, you might be surprised at how much these vary.

We want you to post about finding people to play with. Tell us about conventions and meetups you're organising. Let us know and we'll come along too! We'll help by running games and events.

We want to help you with games design. We may ask difficult questions, but these aren't an attack on your game. We're just trying to work out how you think, what assumptions you're making and what kind of experience you mean by RPG.

We're about Publishing. Ask about writing, editing, art, layout, printing, PDF and websites. We have professionals in all these fields who can point you to useful resources.

Each forum has a subtitle explaining what should go there. If it doesn't seem to fit anywhere, don't post it. There are other, better, places to post general gaming commentary.

Principle 2: We're about mutualism

We're here to help each other out. Treat other people and their ideas with respect. Read others' posts in the best possible light and we'll do the same for you.

We're about discussion. You may find people disagree with you. That's fine. You don't learn anything new from people who agree with you. It's fine to have strong opinions. We do expect them to be backed up with some critical thinking and evidence though.

We're our own community, so don't bring the Internet here. Don't behave like a dick, don't troll and don't create arguments for their own sake. It's fine to swear, but at concepts not people.

Principle 3: We're about getting things done.

We thrive on a good signal to noise ratio. It helps things happen. Every hollow post you add that is an empty "me too!", 'that's great!" or a "here's my opinion on something tangential" degrades that signal.

Before you post a comment, read it over and check it adds something. Compose your thoughts, as if writing a letter or an essay. If somebody starts a thread they want something out if it, so keep to their guidelines. Your jokey tangent might kill their chances of getting the decent feedback they want.

Wait a while before posting a reply. If a thread goes off at a tangent for more than 2 posts, start a new thread. This stops threads getting diluted, and means new ideas can grow in their own space.]]>
You'll need to sign up again, I'm afraidhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=4
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=4Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:21:40 +0000Mattright, this appears to be working fine. Let me know if you see any bugs...

So here's the thing. We had a chat about what to do when we moved to Vanilla. We figured what with a slight refocus of the site, hopefully to be clearer about what we do, it might be a good time for people to ask: what am I doing here and is it still useful to me? If you still want to chat about our games, conventions, actual play, design and stuff. Cool! We still want to chat about that stuff. As always sign up with your real name and we're away.

All old stuff has not been lost! It's stored, and I'll be putting up an archive in a bit...

P.S. Sorry for the sudden-ness, but I wanted to do this Pre-Dragonmeet and real-life stuff has meant it crept up on me.]]>
Managing the Brandhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=232
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=232Fri, 24 May 2013 15:37:38 +0100Newt NewportI used to be a big fan of Fred Hick's "You are your Brand", which basically boils down to the idea that how you behave on-line and in public colours the buying public's perception of your games, but then realised I'm not nearly as charismatic or prolific on-line as him. I also have the 'issue' that because I put out Old School games (OpenQuest/Crypts and Things), alongside storygames (Monkey, Wordplay, Generic HeroQuest Supplements) , the various audiences of thouse games label with me either the Story Gamer or Old School tag. Then throw in my Gloranthan stuff (Hearts in Glorantha/Gloranthan Adventures) , whos fans blithely ignore everything else. It often feels like D101 is a wobbly schitzo brandwise. I don't concentrate on one thing you see.]]>
UK Games Expo 2013http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=233
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=233Tue, 28 May 2013 00:01:23 +0100Matt
UK Games Expo in Birmingham, and the first in its shiny new venue over in the Hilton Metropole by the NEC. Also the first we haven't had a CE stand at, mostly due to disorganisation on our part.

I went both days, the first on my own, the 2nd with my young daughter. Two very different experiences.

So the new venue is pretty ideal for the event at this size. Two huge rooms for trade. A decent size room for seminars. A host of rooms for smaller events and gaming. Can't fault it on that at all. The bar was extortionate. The food was expensive, but at least the buffet was more reasonable than the bar food. This is the venues one weakness. Subway Sandwich at the NEC was a 10 minute walk away and other pubs like The Little Owl are close by, so maybe not too bad once people learn to leave the venue.

It was heaving on Saturday. Way busier than last year. Expo Twitter puts numbers over the weekend at 3500 people. That's up on previous years by a marginI'd guess. I think the new location may have helped here, it's easier to get to for non Brum folk. Way bigger international crowd this time, with French, Italian and US companies and guests visible. Sunday was less busy, for which I was thankful, and seemed to be more fo the family day. Lots of families in attendance.

The seminars felt more accessible this year. The room was just across the corridor from the trade hall and with a nice list of what was when outside. I went to the Kickstarter event, and it was a good show, with some great ideas from Angus and Chris Birch and others whose names I forget.

Signage was in general way better this year. No hunting around in the basement for the RPGs. The hotel has digital boards with arrows pointing to where things are. Even thought the trade area was bigger than before, it was packed. I tried to get to Leisure games stand at about 11am and couldn't get within reach. Interestingly, the Playtesting area was expanded this year and also very, very busy.

I ran The Queen's Men and got three very keen players who really embraced the game's quirks. We had characters with suitably poorly applied makeup and polystrene rocks. All suitably 70s TV style. Plus it turned out the woman they were sent to rescue was a spy plotting to kill them all, and Marlowe's former lover. A good time was had by all.

Sunday was interesting, as it game me a feel for Expo as a family visitor. Daughter and I arrived at about half 11, and narrowly avoided a dark lord of the sith. She wasn't too sure what to make of the costumed folk. But we did a round of the first trade hall, eventually deciding to play Forbidden Desert. Which is a lovely board game of crashed skyships and searching for parts in the ever piling sands. She really got into that, so I bought a copy.

Next we tried to go to the family area, but, oh no, stormtroopers, so I was marched back to the first hall. Bumped into Tim and Graham and bought a copy of Age of Arthur with its lovely colour art.

We had subway sandwiches by the lake for lunch. It was lovely and sunny.

We tried the 2nd trade hall again. This time trying a bidding card game with a western theme. All was fine until the tannoy started doing announcements. In the style of daleks. I then had a very unhappy child. We retreated to hall one and played a jockey racing game, which was a bit too tactical for her and I felt was clever, but not very well produced.

She was definitely flagging by then, so we headed for home. Daughter was of the opinion that there should have been more folk dressed as goodies.

-Matt]]>
Forums, blogs and podcastshttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=231
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=231Fri, 10 May 2013 09:46:48 +0100MattWhile I've discovered a few places (Purple Pawn, GMS magazine) via Twitter. I'm keen to know what gaming media is good these days. What should I know about?

Obviously this is with an eye to promotion, but anything interesting I'd love to know about too.]]>
Conpulsion 2013 how was it for you?http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=230
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=230Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:44:45 +0100Newt Newport
Conpulsion 2013 (Edinburgh Uni April 12th-14th). Big shout out to Joe Murphy for sorting out the accommodation, a lovely shared apartment, and for Neil Gow for putting up with my snoring :)

It was great to meet up with pretty much the entire CE gang on Friday. I got a good load of practical advice on a variety of subjects, which is highly useful since D101 games has kinda grown out of control and I need to trim the fat. Neil (Gow) was especially useful to bounce ideas of - and I've come away and already started to implement them. Definitely by next Conpulsion, if not before, D101 should be a meaner leaner beast :)

I only had a day at the con proper, family woes cut short my stay on Sunday, but boy did I have a great time. Three absolute corkers of game, two run by me and a fantastic game of Monster Hearts with Neil in the evening. And of course with the games only being 3 hours long there was plenty of time to catch up with folk and have a natter.

Finally Joe's and Malc's demo game of Mobile Frame Zero was hugely impressive (and the intricacy of it convinced me its not a game for kids under the age of 20 ;) ) and inspirational. I think I'll pencil in Sunday next year as war gaming day. Just got to decide which would be less offensive to the missus, loads of Lego or loads of the new Mad knight Castings Minis to support their upcoming Gloranthan Skirmish game.

Maximum thanks to Phil Harris & Greggor and the rest of the organising committee, esp Craig Oxbrow who sorted out the RPGs. Conpulsion is definitely set in stone as my 1st con of the year!

So how did everyone else find it?]]>
Is this Forum 'dead' ?http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=229
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=229Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:12:17 +0000Newt NewportHowever given the lack of activity here in recent times, I was wondering if this is the right place to post it?]]>
Concrete Cow 12½: 8 September 2012, Milton Keyneshttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=225
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=225Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:26:10 +0100Neil SmithWHO?We're Milton Keynes RPG Club. Find out more about us at http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk.

WHEN?Saturday 8 September 2012. Doors open at 9.00am, first games start at 10.00am. We'll finish at 11.00pm.

WHO'LL BE THERE?Traders are TBC, once we've done the whole diary-checking-and-confirmation thing.

More importantly, there's all the fantastic games gamers who'll be there and all the fantastic games you'll bring along. If you let us know what you're planning to run, we'll put it on the Concrete Cow games page.

(Note that for child protection reasons, under-16s will need to be accompanied by an adult at Concrete Cow.)

WHERE?The Old Bath House, Wolverton, in the north-west corner of Milton Keynes. The full address is

Regular trains to Milton Keynes run from London Euston station. The nearest station to the con is Wolverton (one stop north of Milton Keynes Central), about five minutes' walk away.

HOW MUCH?Still only £5.00, payable on the door. This'll cover the cost of hiring the hall.

For more information, visit our Yahoo group, email concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com, or ask here!]]>
Nobel Inventions & Legacyhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=228
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=228Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:40:44 +0100Iain McAllisterIt has really been far too long since I posted here and it is nice to be getting back into the saddle with regards design and publication again. I've been working quite steadily over the last month or so to get myself back into the swing of things with regards to 'The Giant Brain' as well as teach myself some graphic design for forthcoming projects.

First up is a boardgame called Legacy that you can now buy through my Store. This one isn't made by me but by a couple of local Edinburgh designers called Aaron Billingham and Ken Nicholson. It's a really tight, well paced piece of design about forging a new nation after the collapse of an old regime. You can read my review of it here.

Secondly I have just put up the free print and play version of my new game Nobel Inventions. This is a card game about putting together crazy inventions to win nobel prizes. Think B-Movie but with a much more tactical element to the creation and everyone plays their cards into one big grid. Hope you can check it out and give me some feedback. Still in the early stages but it is really shaping up nicely.

All the best

Iain]]>
Nerd East 2012 (oh yeah, and I'm back...)http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=227
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=227Sat, 09 Jun 2012 20:46:03 +0100Neil GowPart of this second phase of the project has involved becoming more involved in the local con scene and supporting that through some extra publicity and whatever else I can. The North East is not known for its cons at all, so anything I can do will help! Its also allowed me to strike at markets outside of the UKRPG Diaspora.

Today was NerdEast, a LARP/RPG con ran by the Durham University Treasure Trap folks. I have to say, as a con it was very nicely ran, with games, talks, tournaments and LARP stuff throughout the day. I contributed a talk on games publishing which was really a Q&A regarding playtesting, publishing and other such stuff.

Sales at the con were very slow to start. Very slow - and for some stalls, there was no sale all day which was disheartening. However, in the last hour is skyrocketed and in the end, it was rather sweet.

Sales

D&H/BtQ Bundle (3) - £105D&H (1) - £12BtQ (3) - £39

Total sales: £159Stall cost: £15

So all in all, very nice. I also made some contacts with a local card manufacturer, some local games shops and a couple of uni games societies ... and I might actually get the books into Travelling Man soon!

There was one moment of sad comedy that reminded me that its been a while... My new spangly stand-up banner that many of you will have seen on Facebook is very eyecatching. So eyecatching that if it is placed on the left of a stall, where the flow is right to left, the punters look at the bloody banner and then their eyefall is passed the stall and they move on. What a plonker I am!

So congratulations everybody! That is a great result. When you think about the rate that RPGnow (say) takes for a sale (35%) you can see that selling at UKGE at 27% is a pretty goodrate.

Very nice to see 14 sales for Chronicles (above 10 is a very good showing) and 5s for The Agency and Remember Tomorrow. I think Memories would have had at least 5 if we'd had enough copies, but not a lot we could do about that -- it sold out on Day One!

Anyway, next year the con is moving to a bigger venue -- and with over 3k attending over two days it certainly is growing enough to justify this.]]>
Regiment of Pick-Up Gamers Wanted! (Scottish Central Belt)http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=196
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=196Wed, 02 Feb 2011 04:39:00 +0000ShaheenI am looking for other people who would be willing to offer themselves up as gamers to gaming groups. I'm looking for board gamers, role-players, live-action role-players, collectable-card gamers and war gamers! If you play these games, no matter how new or old you are to gaming - I NEED YOU!

I want gamers based around the central belt of Scotland, which means just about anywhere that's within driving distance of Glasgow or Edinburgh, who are willing to travel around the central belt to play these games as necessary. These games will be with people outside your normal gaming groups, meaning you will meet lots of different like-minded new friends-to-be!

These games will be pick-up games meaning the groups will need you as a player. These groups could be anything from a local gaming group at a strangers house to an established university gaming society to a once-a-year convention. You won't be alone in this as I have a small group of PUGs already who are looking to get some solid gaming on.

If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, or sounds like something someone you know might be interested in, please get in touch or join us at our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=gro ... 00208&ap=1

If you would like to pass this on, you can copy paste this link to others: recessiondodgetovictory.wordpress.com/20...-up-gamers-for-hire/

WHO'LL BE THERE?Traders are TBC, once we've done the whole diary-checking-and-confirmation thing.

More importantly, there's all the fantastic games gamers who'll be there and all the fantastic games you'll bring along. If you let us know what you're planning to run, we'll put it on the Concrete Cow games page.

(Note that for child protection reasons, under-16s will need to be accompanied by an adult at Concrete Cow.)

WHERE?The Old Bath House, Wolverton, in the north-west corner of Milton Keynes. The full address is

What it really is: it's a story game with predefined characters designed to run in less than two hours. It takes a facilitator and up to four players. It's been playtested like mad and it delivers. Every time.

Per]]>
I hear you might enjoy rolling dice...http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=223
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=223Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:55:13 +0000ShaheenThe rules: You have 100 six-sided dice in total. They come in 10 different colours – so that's ten dice in ten different colours for a total of one hundred dice.

To post in this thread, you must make a game that uses all of these dice. Not 1 of them, not 99 of them, but ALL THE DAMN DICE!

You can add extra items of equipment if you need them for your game – for example, tumblers to roll the dice in or pieces of paper and pens but you cannot use less than the 100 dice stated above.

Kudos if you can ensure your rules description is 100 words or less – let's get rolling!]]>
Short(ish) demos - do people actually play them?http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=222
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=222Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:45:46 +0000Tim GrayWhat does collective experience say?

I know it's been hard to get people into *really* short demos at previous events. What difference would an hour make? Would it be better to just run a slot?]]>
[Dead of Night] Actual play reportshttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=6
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=6Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:55:09 +0000Andrew KenrickGrendel, AlaskaRon Edwards' frantic werewolf gameRon Edwards' Nice Mr FitzgeraldCoyote Creek at Gencon UK 2006Dad's Army vs the Unspeakable HorrorMalcolm's Dead of Night Noir game]]>
Numbers and Hiatushttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=221
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=221Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:36:59 +0100Neil GowThis does mean that some of the promised pieces of work will not now see the light of day - like the French book and Rise of the Zulu. This is why I have put this under 'publishing advice' so that I can pass this nugget on: NEVER PROMISE WHAT YOU CANNOT DELIVER!

As a closing point to this phase of the project, however, I thought I would share my three year sales for the games. This is everything that has ever gone out, in any format.

Duty & Honour: 618Beat to Quarters: 4231809 Misc: 3171810 Misc: 151

Total number of units shifted in three years? 1509

I can't say I am displeased with that!

Neil]]>
Some Spiel Numbershttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=220
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=220Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:56:19 +0100MattBooth buy in was 180 Euros. This would be lower if we'd had more buy ins. One major sponsor and two minor is not enough folks to run the booth and allow some gaming time. I reckon 6 would be ideal for rotating.

My sales were pretty robust:

11 copes of The Agency (plus 6 to retail).5 copies of Covenant0 Pulp!

Minus booth cost that gave me about 130 Euros in return. This is about enough to cover the plane ticket, but not much else...

So... Good sales, but not as good for me as 2006, but we had more local buy ins then.]]>
Freelance writer agreementshttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=218
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=218Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:35:51 +0100Tim GrayDoes anybody know of a simple form of words for an agreement with people who are writing bits of a small press RPG product? (Based in UK law.)]]>
GUGS Conflagrationhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=217
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=217Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:12:23 +0100ShaheenAnyone else going?]]>
Concrete Cow 11½: 17 September 2011, Milton Keyneshttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=208
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=208Sat, 30 Apr 2011 03:36:03 +0100Neil SmithWHO?We're Milton Keynes RPG Club. Find out more about us at http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk.

WHEN?Saturday 17 September 2011. Doors open at 9.00am, first games start at 10.00am. We'll finish at 11.00pm.

WHO'LL BE THERE?Leisure Games and Reaper's Revenge will be returning as traders, continuing their mission to part you from your money in return for the nicest possible shinies.

More importantly, there's all the fantastic games gamers who'll be there and all the fantastic games you'll bring along. If you let us know what you're planning to run, we'll put it on the Concrete Cow games page.

(Note that for child protection reasons, under-16s will need to be accompanied by an adult at Concrete Cow.)

WHERE?The Old Bath House, Wolverton, in the north-west corner of Milton Keynes. The full address is

Regular trains to Milton Keynes run from London Euston station. The nearest station to the con is Wolverton (one stop north of Milton Keynes Central), about five minutes' walk away.

HOW MUCH?£5.00, payable on the door. This'll cover the cost of hiring the hall.

For more information, visit our Yahoo group, email concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com, or ask here!]]>
Chronicles of Skin LAUNCHEDhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=216
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=216Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:20:53 +0100Sebastian HickeyIf you want to contribute, you can earn perks or spread the word. Gi here for more intel: http://igg.me/p/38864?a=226599&i=shlk]]>
In Flames - a lovely cover from Paul Bhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=210
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=210Tue, 10 May 2011 01:16:28 +0100GregJust thought I'd pop up and show you the cover from Paul B for my new game which is coming at GenCon from C7, though there's a possibility of some copies at the expo. It's a 're-imagining' of Ruby. Cheers to Malc for pointing me in the direction of a thread where Paul Czege (and it turns out Ron Edwards) say nice thngs about Ruby - it insprired me to do a 'proper job' with the setting. It's a re-imagining because I've changed a lot of the key concepts considerably. It also uses the D6 engine. I can supply more details if anyone is interested. Anyway, here's that nice cover...

Anyone who has the time to read it and provide constructive feedback will have my undying gratitude... and with the 3,000 word limit, it's only 5 pages long, so it won't take you long, but there's no room to add anything to it! :-O]]>
Custom playing cards & tuck boxeshttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=209
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=209Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:05:41 +0100Sebastian HickeyI'm looking for a printer to print 175-ish decks of custom cards and custom tuck boxes to match. Anyone have any suggestions about where to look?

Graham Walmsley also gets a couple of nominations for A Taste For Murder and The Dance in the Blood.

Chapeau!]]>
The Agency (Reactivated) - playtest and pre-readers neededhttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=213
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=213Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:35:59 +0100MattI have a new version of The Agency, which I've been working on since a flash of inspiration earlier in the year. It's at the stage where I'd like some folks to take a look at it and play it some more.

It's sitting on Google docs. So ping me here or via other contact channels if you would like to take a look at this somewhat living document.

For those who don't know the spiel:

The Agency is a roleplaying game where players take on the roles of 60?s secret agents fighting the supernatural. It’s Austin Powers meets Buffy the Vampire slayer, or the Avengers and Hammer Horror. Full of glorious technicolor, eccentric spies, nefarious villains and weird occurrences. A world where a union-jack waistcoat is the height of spywear and this message may self destruct…

This version takes the same basic principles of the old edition and adds on a few tweaks, plus a heavily 3:16 inspired threat system.

Cheers

-Matt]]>
Gaming Related Fundraising Ideashttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=212
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=212Mon, 23 May 2011 01:48:32 +0100ShaheenI'm looking for ideas on how to fundraise beyond the traditional bring and bake stuff for a gaming event. One idea I was told of was to allow rerolls during roleplaying games to be bought but the GM/opponent is allowed to cancel out the reroll by paying money to the charity. Bidding for rerolls essentially.

Do you have any more gaming related fundraising ideas I could steal?

Much obliged,

- Shazz]]>
Martyrdom of Gaius Flaviushttp://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=211
http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=211Thu, 19 May 2011 01:23:54 +0100Sebastian HickeyThere's another frame for Hell for Leather. This time Christians go ape-shit in Rome.